Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana is a trained lawyer, who was called to the bar in 2012 and practised in his father, Femi Falana’s SAN chambers briefly before taking his destiny in his own hands.
At 33, Falz has registered his name boldly on the Nigerian entertainment scene as a rapper, actor, record label owner and a content creator in one decade.
His career, officially, kicked off in 2014, two years after he finished from Law school and since then, he hasn’t looked back.
In chat with The Nation, he reminisces on his career of a decade and life lessons saying, “A big lesson I’ve learned is to do everything I’ve always wanted to do. If there’s something you’re passionate about and can be good at, pursue it. If I had restricted myself earlier in my career, I probably wouldn’t be the brand I am today. The brand I am today is all-encompassing. I’m the guy in film, in music, and more. I still am Falz the Bahd Guy. Another recent lesson is to just act. If you have an idea, just do it. D on’t overthink it. Don’t sit on it. Those are two big lessons I’ve learned.”
Falz admitted that though he didn’t set out to become a multi-talented entertainer with laurels in film and music industries, music berthed the brand he has become.
“The truth is, no. I didn’t pre-plan my brand or how I would be. Music was my first passion. I just knew I had this talent and passion, and I wanted to do it the best way possible. Along the way, I found other things. If I didn’t create room to accommodate them, I wouldn’t have become who I am now,” he said.
After a brief hiatus from music since his debut in 2014, Falz noted that he needed to pause, relax and return to the scene differently, hence, his decision to go on a break before his return.
The music star went further to list the lessons learnt after taking a break to refocus and return to the scene differently.
He said: “I think the biggest lesson I learned is to stop overthinking. As a creative person, it’s very easy to fall into that hole. It’s a very deep hole, overthinking everything, wanting to come out in the best way possible. I’m a perfectionist, both creatively and personally. I felt myself really entering deep into that hole, so I needed to pause. That is the biggest lesson I’ve learned because I realised it was all for nothing. There’s no need to keep going deep there. You just have to move, just act. If you have a great idea, just act, just work on it. That’s the biggest lesson.”
Upon his return in 2024, Falz released an Extended Play entitled ‘Before The Feast.’
According to the singer cum rapper, the EP is a breath of fresh air devoid of politically conscious or socially conscious music.
For him, ‘Before The Feast’ is an intentional music project with a direction and he doesn’t want to be swayed off.
Speaking further on what makes the EP different, he said: “On this project, I’m not doing much of the social or political commentary that I typically do. There are socially conscious lyrics, but not particularly about the affairs of the country. That is intentional as well. I resolved not to complain because the emotion I’m trying to convey has to be one that comes without that element of complaining. I want to put the listener in the mindset I feel they should have as an African existing in 2024. ‘Before The Feast’ wouldn’t fully give you that yet, but wait for ‘The Feast,’ my upcoming album.”
In the same vein, the ‘Jenifa’ and ‘Brotherhood’ actor reiterated the need for new sounds after several complaints of Nigerian Afro-pop music sounding alike.
“It is time for new sounds that would really take us back to what we know how to do best and that is to make different types of music. I don’t know how we got trapped in the era of chasing a certain type of sound. I think everybody will start to open their ears after this project.”
Falz also lamented the high cost of music marketing especially as one who has run an independent record label for a decade. He also supported a colleague, Iyanya’s claims of spending over N50m on a song promotion saying it’s possible to spend more.
The ‘Soldier’ rapper also opined that with the high cost of music marketing, many genuine talents will be demoralised and the industry will miss out on the talents.
